ST Microelectronics to invest $30M

NEW DELHI: ST Microelectronics (STM), will invest about $30 million in India over the next couple of years and hire another 300 people this year.

The company is a Franco-Italian venture with annual worldwide sales of $8.9 billion. It makes chips and develops software for cellphones, set-top boxes, DVDs and cars. A lot of these chips are designed in India. Currently the company employs 1,500 people  around 1,400 of them engineers.

Announcing this, the companys President and CEO, Carlo Bozotti said, We will continue to invest about $20-30 million every year in India. He said, Indian engineers contributed to all major chip and software development lines of STM.

Within the past few years alone, the company has filed over 165 patents out of India. The company has opened new campus in Greater Noida, which is the largest design center outside Europe and one of the largest R&D facility worldwide. The new facilities can accommodate about 5,000 people.

But, as a market of chips, India contributes less then one percent, or about $75 million, to its revenues. This year, we are looking at increasing our sales to around $100 million, Bozotti said.